As of 2019, ag was only 1.4% of Iowa's workforce. There just aren't that many farmers. It generates a ton of revenue, but doesn't take that many people.
IWD's Labor Market Information Division is the state's premier resource for labor force data, statistics, and research on Iowa's labor market.
www.iowalmi.gov
I think these numbers are skewed. Maybe not, but I wonder what is all counted in each area. And what qualifies each.
Partly because when you farm your entire family farms, So not only does Dad not get to or watch the game, so does the wife, the kids etc.
My dad farmed for many years, then trucked, then ran his own business. And even though he no longer farmed, farmers were 90% of his business and during the busy times of the year, it was you were working to make sure they kept running and everything else was put on hold, Farmers and their support companies were first priority. During regular hours or not.
I am not sure some of those numbers are very accurate, because that is really low on some numbers. For instance they are saying there is only 3k support workers for AG. So in every Fertilizer plant, every elevator, every AG chem plant etc. In Iowa there is only 3k workers. The Truckers hauling grain. The hired men, the seasonal workers. Seed dealers. Agronomists. Seed companies. Even Vets, or the work at ISU and the Vet Med/USDA.
They only show 11k animal producers, but Iowa Select has 1,200 employees alone, plus 650 contractors that each have multiple employees.
I find it kind of limited view of what they must be counting as AG, AG related, AG supporting, or AG work,
Considering pretty much every town of less than 5K people in Iowa is 90% Ag related in some form.
But to that point it is probably a small percentage compared to the mass population centers of DM, and CR etc.
A lot of my life I lived in Fairly rural areas and pretty much everything revolved around AG, and unless there was rain football was not on the agenda for many.